11:01am Sunday 29th April 2007
After coming second in a shamelessly rigged Karachi bonnie baby competition, Imran Ahmad began to wake up to the world - the judges were friends of the winning baby's family and life is not fair.
So begins one Pakistani child's remarkable journey from second bonniest baby to the Houses of Parliament, at the age of 44, hoping to spread understanding to the masses.
He gave a copy of his memoir, Unimagined, to every MP, in a bid to boost understanding of the plight faced by British Muslims in today's society, by reflecting on yesterday's hardships.
In the 1960s, Imran's family moved to Putney and he started studying at Hampton School, a culture clash described wonderfully in his book.
From religious education classes to girls he fancies but is told he should not, a Muslim's experiences growing up in England through the 1960s to the 1980s, make for much amusement and cause for thought.
The whimsical nature of his writing and the innocence of the anecdotes make it easy to overlook the cultural importance of his experiences. Not least because he hopes the book will bring The West closer to Islam in understanding, a gap which he believes has widened considerably of late.
Imran said: "Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, it seemed to me that racism was a fact of life, and was entirely normal.
"I could never have imagined how quickly British society would evolve to the extent that racism is now considered unacceptable.
"But recently this progress has been derailed as far as Muslims are concerned.
"Due to complex events across a spectrum of issues, Muslims specifically, have become differentiated as the new other' - seen as a menacing collective entity, despite the huge diversity of beliefs, practices, ethnicity and cultures."
The book has won rave reviews in newspapers and online, and the recommendation on the cover is from Sue Townsend, author of the Adrian Mole diaries.
But much like Imran's early years in Britain, Unimagined did not have a smooth ride early on.
The publishing process began with Imran trying to find an agent, which proved a fruitless task. He then decided to self-publish.
He said: "I set off on the unknown road to publication.
"I read all the right guides, wrote a book proposal and spent more than six months trying to engage a literary agent.
"I often gleefully imagined getting an agent, then a publisher, and eventually seeing my book being read by all my fellow sombre grey-suited commuters on the 7.02 to Waterloo.
"The reality, as portended by all the rejection slips, looked very different."
Then finally a breakthrough came.
He sent a copy of Unimagined to agent Scott Pack, who replied within a couple of weeks with positive comments, but said it looked amateurish and was not price competitive.
He did, however, pass the book on to agent Charlie Viney, from Mulcahy & Viney, who signed him on and got the book published after reading it from cover to cover in a matter of days.
Imran, who now lives in Thames Ditton, is a trustee for the British Muslims for Secular Democracy, which aims to get Muslims properly engaged in the democratic process, counter the negative stereotype of Muslims, ensure the theology does not stifle education and democracy and to ensure nobody has theological cultural values imposed on them.
As it is for many modern Muslims in society, today's balance between Islam and The West is hard to strike.
As a child Imran found himself listening to conservative preachers, teachers, peers and his parents - all giving him different messages on how to live his life.
He recognises the same dilemma facing the young Muslims of today.
To find out more about the book go to unimagined.co.uk to find out more.
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